It would seem the bit-rate is very low. According to the specs, a 64 MB SD card will hold 11 minutes of the highest quality setting in 640x480 @ 30 fps. That works out to about 5 MB per minute. My aiptek IS-Dv2 camera uses about 18 MB per minute. So I hope this is a misprint or they have some incredible compressison technology. Maybe they meant to write 256 MB SD card, that would make more sense for 11 minutes. After all, I don't even think people can buy new 64 MB SD cards anymore..

I see what you mean. I hadn't paid attention to that. That's just under 800bps as against approx 2700bps for the Aiptek ie less than a third of the bitrate! As you say it would bring it back in line if they meant a 256MB card. Even if the camera used the superior h264 compression (very unlikely in such a cheap camera anyway) it still wouldn't compress it anywhere near that. 11 minutes for 64MB is nearly 3hours on a 1GB! You could almost use this as a security camera if you used the 15fps mode and hook it up to a permament power supply and a 2GB card :lol:

I sent an email to their website to ask about this. I'll see if they respond.

Yes it would've been better to take AA batteries but at least it isn't an odd amount like 3. I dislike toys etc that take 3 batteries! I am sure they do it intentionally to make you buy more packs of batteries than you would in order to use the odd ones.

Yes it would've been better to take AA batteries but at least it isn't an odd amount like 3. I dislike toys etc that take 3 batteries! I am sure they do it intentionally to make you buy more packs of batteries than you would in order to use the odd ones.

Since I use rechargables it really doesn't matter to me how many it takes. The 4 AAA may be a better way of doing it than using 2 AA like the IS-DV2 because it allows the unit to be somewhat slimmer size and may possibly last longer. Granted, it would get expensive to keep putting alkalines in it all the time.

making the Unit a 5vdc usb, 6 vdc unit while only 3vdc runs the sd card, that can handle as low as 2.0vdc

your video time is the greatest need for any hybrid and battery life is the 2nd thing needed? There is a device that can accept a rechargable and/or li-on that system I would love to see adapt to these models rather a AAA system I believe it is the Microteks?

I'm quite certain that 4 AAA batteries would have more power than 2 AA batteries.

4 AAA batteries = 6.0 Volts / 1,200 mA-H (7200 watt-hours)

2 AA batteries = 3.0 Volts / 2,700 mA-H (8100 watt-hours)

Okay.. after doing the calcs.. maybe I was wrong. It would seem it is very close. But a lot of it will determine how the energy is used and if it has to be converted to different voltages, which will make them less efficient.

Quote:

1.2 vdc x 4 adds up to 4.8 vdc while lithiums or alkalines 6vdc?

making the Unit a 5vdc usb, 6 vdc unit while only 3vdc runs the sd card, that can handle as low as 2.0vdc

your video time is the greatest need for any hybrid and battery life is the 2nd thing needed? There is a device that can accept a rechargable and/or li-on that system I would love to see adapt to these models rather a AAA system I believe it is the Microteks?

Fishy, sorry to say.. I haven't a clue what you are trying to say here.

There is no doubt that Lithium Ions hold the greatest energy density of the rechargeable battieries, hence why they are so popular in mobile phones.

The trouble is they are often proprietry meaning they are not standardized like AA/AAA batteries. Sometimes several models will use the same LiOn battery but often they don't. They are also much more expensive, so their only real advantage is that they allow manufacturers to reduce the size of the devices.

My main problem with my Sanyo C40 is the small size of it's battery. 720Mah just isn't enough in my opinion. You cannot add a physically larger battery as you can in many regular camcorders so you are limited to swapping them out which causes interruption in the flow of recording.